Bill updates when a marriage can be voided

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CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- In West Virginia a marriage can be voided because of impotency, venereal disease or because either husband or wife was an idiot or an imbecile.Friday, the state Senate is scheduled to vote on a bill that would make a marriage voidable if either party without the other's knowledge has been convicted of a crime punishable by more than one year in jail.Marriages can also be voided if prior to marriage the wife had been a prostitute without the husband's knowledge or if the husband had been "notoriously licentious.''

The bill's sponsor, Sen. Donald Cookman, said the bill was intended to make the language regarding crimes uniform with other parts of state code. Cookman said that the other reasons for voiding a marriage probably should be looked at.